Monday, May 04, 2009

I feel sheepish but I can't for the life of me remember who it was who suggested that I show pictures of what spring break up looks like here. I've searched and searched through my mail without success but whoever it was they had a good idea and the very next day I set up a tripod and camera in my front living room window to capture the event.

(It was kind of funny too because whenever someone came to the house they inevitably noticed the camera on the tripod aimed their direction and wanted to know what it was for and if they were being caught on film. Apparently I run with a nervous crowd.)

Anyway, here's the results:

I wish I had a camera that wouldn't attract children's elbows because it was constantly getting bumped and pushed out of position and add to that that I don't have an automatic timer that can handle a day's worth of shooting but you get the general idea.

I started on January 24th and if you look closely you'll see a couple things--first, there is a bleak and dingy day in there toward the end where the volcanic ash fell, second you'll see how we would melt then get another snow dump, and third you'll see how Andrew's old car breaks down and he gets a new one. All very exciting, trust me.

Was that your son outside in short sleeves with snow on the ground? You must have thicker blood up there! We would be freezing to death and bundled into coats and gloves if a flake fell from the sky. :)

Lush green grass in Alaska! So, why is my daughter in Montana dealing with another dump of snow. She told me yesterday Glacier, MT had some where over 3 ft this weekend!!! Is Alaska sending their snow to the south?

I was describing Break Up to my husband just last night. I remember that in the spring of '95 (I think) our car sunk up to the frame in the mud, just from sitting in the driveway as the snow melted all around. It was a MESS.

Michemily--at exactly 3:00. It's only for a couple frames so it goes quickly.

The Source--yup, short sleeves. You wouldn't believe it but when it hits about 50 people bring out the short sleeves, shorts and flip flops each spring. It's ridiculous but who am I to deny Alaskans their springtime celebration? This week when it hit about 65 you saw all sorts of women wearing shorts and tank tops.

One Mom--yes, my kids. It's been their job for several years now and we've never needed a snow blower with them around :) Less room to take up in the garage though more expensive to fuel.

Annette--no, I took pictures approximately every day since January 24 though usually in batches of 3 or 4 pictures.

The little creature was a magpie if you're talking about the black and white bird on the front steps. It was eating the grass seed we've put down in that bare patch left over from the construction last summer. In just a couple days the new grass is coming in now enough to see.

I think you did the trick with your video. It was so heartbreaking watching the kids and hubby shovel the driveway only to have it filled back up again with snow. I was wondering if we would ever see it melt and stay melted.

I bet your glad now however that much of the snow should stay gone correct?

Love your blog, you continue to amaze me at your posts and how wonderful living in Alaska can be.

OK, I thought maybe I was going crazy. But Brenda commented about the lizard thing too. It was a bird? Never would have guessed that. So is all the snow gone now for the season? Great job on the video by the way.

Ok..great video and have always wondered about this because my best friend lives in Alaska (anchorage I had to ask him if that was a lizard at the end of the video and he busted out laughing because well...he knew what it was LOL

That was great! That is SO Alaska:snow/shovel/snow/shovel/snow/shovel. Over and over. All winter long (8 months up here). Is it any wonder we all go giddy-crazy-silly happy when breakup and spring roll around?

You know that looks like absolutely fabulous fun......for about 3 minutes max!

Curiously, depending upon the time of day it looks as if you have two grey arrow heads on your driveway but of course that's just the shadow of your steps.

Meanwhile I have ceasar salad to make as it's stinking hot here and the sprinklers are on the blink so I shall have a thoroughly toasted garden in less than 24 hours.Cheers [ I just thought I'd share that with you:)]

That was so cool. I was jealous of your patience. I also had a bit of a complex when you mentioned Ken Burns (Ed Burns? I thought? Am I dumb?) I had to Google him and what do ya know? I've seen three of his movies (ok two were in school, I am not intelligent enough for your blog)!

Years ago I would set up my webcam and point it out the window towards my driveway to amuse my non-Alaskan friends as I would go out to shovel the snow.

Funny how something as simple as snow can become an almost magical thing for people who never see it themselves. They (my friends) would always tell me how amazing it had looked once I came back inside. Of course I'd be massaging a sore back and 'amazing' would have beeen the last way I'd described it!

Thanks for taking the time to produce a video like this. I found it interesting too, and I live in the state myself =)